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Drawing on social capital and agency theories and using a multi-study research design, this study examined how perceived risk and return interacts with familism to influence individuals’ investment strategies in new venture financing, both capital seeking and capital providing behavior. We found that individuals high in familism are more likely to seek capital from and provide capital to family members than non-family members for new ventures. However, such relationships are more complex than prior research suggests because when individuals’ risk and return perceptions are included these interact with familism to differentially influence capital financing behavior directed at family versus non-family members. Contributions to theory and potential avenues for future research are discussed.

Despite the important role of angel investors as critical financial providers for new ventures, little is known regarding how institutions make their investment decisions. While angels make decisions based on selection criteria during the first stage, they are also embedded within and affected by different institutional settings and as a result weight these criteria differently than other investors. We compare angel investors' selection criteria in China and Denmark using the comparative institutional perspective. We use a policy capturing approach and hierarchy linear modeling, revealing that since Chinese angels are embedded within relationship-based institutional settings they tend to reply more on strong ties such as family and friends in management team, as well as weighting risks less compared to Danish angels operating within more rule-based institutional contexts.

The demographic composition of the North American workforce is changing due to the increase in non-European immigrants and different reproductive rates among ethnic groups. This trend has created the need for managers and academics to rethink traditional ways of management and derive new ways to integrate minority workers for better performance. Guided by a social psychological framework of multiculturalism, this project examined the use of the grievance procedure in an ethnically diverse organization. It tested various hypotheses concerning how ethnic belonging, perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism, and individualism-collectivism value affected job satisfaction, complaint behaviours of workers, the number of grievances filed, and workers' evaluations of the grievance procedure. A study was conducted in the Vancouver plant of a Crown Corporation. Through the cooperation of management and the union, labour officers, shop stewards, and supervisors of the plant were first interviewed. After that, 650 questionnaires were distributed to in-house, blue-collar workers who voluntarily participated in the study. Of the 139 questionnaires returned (21%), 130 of them were completed and analyzed by regression. Many of the hypotheses are supported. English ability is positively associated with ethnic belonging for majority workers, but not for minority workers (Linguistic Vitality Hypothesis). It is also positively associated with complaints to supervisors and the number of grievances filed, but not with complaints to coworkers of same ethnic background (Linguistic Accommodation Hypothesis). For minority workers, a stronger ethnic belonging is related to perceiving a positive atmosphere of multiculturalism (Ethnic Confidence Hypothesis). This relationship, however, does not exist for majority workers. Moreover, Ethnic Status Hypothesis is also supported, as ethnic status is positively associated with perceiving a more positive atmosphere of multiculturalism. Contrary to the general beliefs concerning multiculturalism, perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism has little direct effect on grievance behaviours in a multicultural workplace (Primary Multiculturalism Hypothesis). However, in line with the literature of situational ethnicity, the interaction of perceived atmosphere of multiculturalism and ethnic belonging exerts significant effects on grievance behaviours (Secondary Multiculturalism Hypothesis). In particular, when atmosphere of multiculturalism is perceived as high, ethnic belonging is positively related to job satisfaction, but is negatively related to complaints to supervisors. On the other hand, when the atmosphere is perceived as low, ethnic belonging is positively related to the number of grievances filed. In addition to findings concerning multiculturalism, different kinds of individualismcollectivism values were found to influence grievance behaviours in different ways. Coworker collectivism is positively related to complaints to supervisors, complaints to coworkers of same ethnic backgrounds, and the number of grievances filed. On the other hand, general collectivism is negatively associated with complaints to shop stewards, the number of grievances filed, but is positively associated with feelings of animosity and worry of reprisal after grievances were filed. These findings were discussed in light of research implications for individualismcollectivism, Canadian multiculturalism policy, and diversity management. Furthermore, it is recommended that alternative dispute resolution procedures, which allow disputants to structure the process with freedom, be implemented in multicultural workplaces.

Drawing on social capital and agency theories and using a multi-study research design, this study examined how perceived risk and return interacts with familism to influence individuals’ investment strategies in new venture financing, both capital seeking and capital providing behavior. We found that individuals high in familism are more likely to seek capital from and provide capital to family members than non-family members for new ventures. However, such relationships are more complex than prior research suggests because when individuals’ risk and return perceptions are included these interact with familism to differentially influence capital financing behavior directed at family versus non-family members. Contributions to theory and potential avenues for future research are discussed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This study adopted a structural approach to examine the formation and characteristics of Chinese business networks via interlocking directorates during a stage in China's institutional transitions. Analyses of the network structures of 949 listed companies revealed that: (1) Chinese business networks were smaller in scale and lower in density than their Western counterparts; (2) no nationwide network with a dominant center existed; (3) interlock occurred mainly in the form of smaller business groups which tended to be regionally fragmented; (4) ties were more prevalent among industrial peers than with financial institutions; and (5) government ownership was predominant. These findings therefore deepen our understanding about the pattern and extent of business interlock in China. Not only do these findings provide substantive implications to the notion and dimensionality of guanxi, but they also offer inspiration to managers and policy makers by illuminating key characteristics of network structure. Laying these foundations shall pave the way for future research in the structure of Chinese business networks. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Informal investors' decisions are embedded in and influence by the institutional environment. This paper advanced a multilevel model on how institutional factors moderate the decision of informal investors. It is postulated that formal institutional factors (rule of law, regulation quality) and informal ones (social trust, institutional uncertainty tolerance) can enhance information flow, collaboration, and sanctioning mechanisms in a society; as a result, they moderate the importance of decision factors of informal investors. Multilevel modeling on data from 27 countries (over 90,000 people) shows that the institutional factors heighten the positive relationship between individual's having start-up skills and informal investment, but surprisingly dampen that between seeing opportunity in new business and informal investment. These moderating effects are robust even after wealth, cultural values, and other factors are controlled. This study contributes to the research interaction of entrepreneurship and institutional theory. It also sheds light on the differential effects of improved institutions on informal investment. Different from most people would believe, improved institutions could actually cast adverse effects on informal investment, as smart, opportunity-driven individuals can have many other choices to put their investment.

Many Chinese family businesses face the dilemma of building good operating and governance structures and systems while fostering an entrepreneurial spirit across generations. In this study, we explored trans-generational entrepreneurship in Automatic Manufacturing Ltd. (AML), a Hong Kong SME, to shed light on this problem. The first generation founded the company and chose a unique development path that emphasized quality, innovation, and learning before grooming a cadre of professional managers. To continue the family entrepreneurial spirit, AML used the "familiness" resources embodied within the family and its business to incubate the second generation. To test the wings of the second generation as entrepreneurs and then lure them back to AML to take over the responsibilities of the first generation, a unique succession plan nurturing spin-offs by the second generation was developed and implemented. Such a systematic approach, although still under experimentation, has the potential to become best practice for other family businesses. The implications of this approach for research in portfolio entrepreneurship and open innovation are also discussed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This study examines the moderating effect of collectivistic value on the relationship between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction. Specifically, we propose that the multi-dimensional psychological effects of empowerment (i.e., meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact) on job satisfaction differ between high and low collectivistic employees. Data collected from hotel employees in Canada (n = 193) and China (n = 371) revealed that collectivistic orientation elevated (attenuated) the effect of self-determination (impact) on job satisfaction. However, no significant results were found with respect to meaning and competence. Research and practical implications for the findings as well as directions for future research are suggested. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This chapter will introduce Australia’s Dennis family – a case of ‘incremental entrepreneurship’ in the business transition from the first to the second generation. Following the second generation’s formal involvement and ownership in the business, Dennis Family Corporation (DFC) undertook a major professionalization process to formalize the family business and ensure its continued success. The members of the second generation have successfully sustained the entrepreneurial spirit of their family business (albeit in a different style), adding value to the firm in an ‘incremental’ manner. Throughout the chapter there will be a strong emphasis on the family element of DFC and the roles that each family member has played. Bert Dennis, as the founder and incumbent leader of the firm, has witnessed major changes to the business he built from the ground up. His children, in particular his son Grant Dennis as the primary next generation issue champion, have seen the changes from another perspective – ensuring the business remains within the family into the second generation and beyond. The professionalization process was sparked by a commitment from the second generation to continue to ‘make a real go’ of the family business rather than simply liquidating and distributing the assets. The dedication of all the family members to this objective has ensured the success of this process, and ultimately, the longevity of the firm. Although DFC has become more ‘professional’, it has not lost its entrepreneurial character; rather, it has improved the ways in which entrepreneurialism is fostered and pursued in the company. In essence, this case outlines how the implementation of appropriate governance and management practices has allowed the Dennis family to overcome the challenges and maximize the opportunities associated with owning and operating a multigenerational family fi rm. From a theoretical perspective, this case uses the concepts of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (Lumpkin and Dess 1996) and the resource- based view (RBV) (Habbershon and Williams 1999; Barney 1991; Wernerfelt 1984) to demonstrate how the fi rm has leveraged its familiness to foster an enduring spirit of entrepreneurship and to maintain a sustained competitive advantage.